Bicol fire stations lack personnel, trucks, fuel July 11, 2013 by bicolmail in Top Stories with 0 Comments By MAR S. ARGUELLES LEGAZPI CITY — If a major fire occurs in Bicol, disaster authorities, especially the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), would be helpless in responding to the call, a BFP officer here said on Tuesday. The BFP, an agency under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), is currently saddled with operational problems concerning funding, personnel, and fire equipment, according to Fire Inspector Maria Simona Cemitara, BFP-Bicol Administrative chief. Cemitara at a media interfacing at Camp Simeon Ola here on Tuesday disclosed that the bureau is only allowed a monthly fuel allocation of 20 liters for every fire truck it has. The current fuel allocation is only half of what was previously allocated (50 liters/mo) to every BFP fire station, she said, because of a recent DILG memorandum cutting the BFP fuel allocation due to budgetary constraints. She stressed that with the meager fuel allocation it would be difficult for fire trucks to respond to fire incidents in far-flung places. She claims that with the current fuel allocation, fire-fighters and fire assets may not be able to respond immediately to a fire that breaks out reaching fourth and fifth alarms. Fire reaching the Fourth and Fifth Alarm requires firefighters and fire trucks from various towns and cities to assist each other in controlling and putting off a conflagration. First and Second Alarm, until Third Alarm concern town and city fires; while Fourth and Fifth alarms require help from provincial and district fire stations Cemitara reveals that there are only 57 operational fire trucks distributed to various cities and towns in six provinces of Bicol. The distribution of fire trucks would depend on the population and economic status of the town and cities. The BFP needs a total of 115 fire trucks to cope with 1:28,000 population ratio, of which 89 more firefighting trucks are needed. Various fire stations in Bicol, including the regional and provincial offices, are manned by 1,051 personnel where 1,804 personnel are actually desired to cope with the ideal ratio of 1:2000 populations. Bicol has a current population of 5.7 million people. She said that the BFP has proposed in its Agency Investment Plan in 2013 the creation of 1,500 new personnel items for Bicol but only 16 new positions were approved and allocated. bicolmail/2012/?p=9681
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 03:39:09 +0000